"What does that even mean?" Kaizen whispered in confusion.
But despite the confusion, excitement was building in his chest.
Kaizen was absolutely buzzing with energy. Three skills. He had three actual skills.
And from the way they looked and sounded? All of them were stupidly overpowered.
A skill that made learning magic and ancient knowledge easy? Hell yeah! Instant nerd mode unlocked. He could finally be the smart one for once.
A skill that turned useless junk and trash into ranked weapons? Who else could do that? Nobody. Only him.
Student #4 had finally ascended from background NPC to "do not piss off this guy" territory.
And the last skill, the Blink one, whatever it actually meant, he was pretty sure it was overpowered as well because—
VROOOOOOM.
A heavy mana engine roared to life, slicing straight through his internal celebration like a chainsaw through cake. Kaizen blinked and looked up, only to see the back of the bus already moving, already twenty feet away, and picking up speed rapidly.
"WAIT!"
Kaizen's pseudo main character complex shattered instantly into a million pieces. He scrambled forward desperately, his backpack bouncing violently against his spine like a disgruntled koala clinging for dear life.
"STOP! I HAVE A TICKET! Well, I do not actually have a ticket, BUT I HAVE A ZENITH ACADEMY ID CARD!"
He sprinted with everything he had. His pathetic F-Rank legs pumped furiously. For a brief second, his Agility stat of four actually kicked in.
'I am speed, boy! I am... slightly faster than a walking duck!'
He was drafting directly behind the exhaust pipe, inhaling mana-infused fumes like they were oxygen.
'I can make it! I can catch it! Do not let my only ride get away!'
The bus shifted gears with a mechanical grinding sound.
VROOOOM.
It pulled away faster. The gap widened mercilessly. Five feet. Ten feet. Twenty feet.
"No!" Kaizen wheezed, his asthma knocking aggressively on the door of his lungs. "My heist! My economy! My entire plan!"
He slowed down, his chest burning like fire. It was over. The next bus was not scheduled for another hour or two. By then, the Shady Bazaar might be closed, or worse, crowded with people who actually had money to spend.
Then, he saw movement in the back window.
A small, round head popped out of the rear window.
It was the snotty kid from before.
Kaizen's eyes lit up with renewed hope. A human connection! Someone who could help!
"Hey!" Kaizen waved his arms frantically while still jogging, looking like a drowning man flailing on dry land. "Hey! Kid! Tell your dad to stop the bus! Tell the driver! STOP THE BUS!"
The kid stared at him blankly. The wind ruffled his messy hair.
The kid giggled.
He raised his small, chubby hands to his face. He pulled his eyelids down. He puffed his cheeks out.
He did the exact Kaizen Derp Face.
Kaizen stumbled mid-stride. That little brat is mocking me with my own signature move!
"Stop the bus!" Kaizen screamed, ignoring the painful stitch developing in his side.
The kid stopped making the face. He smiled angelically, like a cherub in a painting.
Then, he slowly, deliberately, raised his middle finger toward Kaizen.
Kaizen blinked in shock. He almost tripped over his own feet.
'Did a five-year-old just flip me off? In a fantasy world? Who taught him that gesture?!'
The kid withdrew his hand, laughed with pure joy, and popped his head back inside the bus. The vehicle sped up even more, turning a corner, about to disappear from sight completely.
Kaizen stopped running. He stood in the middle of the road, hands on his knees, absolutely fuming with rage.
"You little demon spawn!" Kaizen yelled at the retreating exhaust cloud. "I hope you drop your ice cream! I hope your socks get wet! I hope your pillow is warm on both sides forever!"
Suddenly, a blue window flashed directly in his mind. It was not the Status Screen. It was some kind of System Prompt. It blinked aggressively, red text on a blue background.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
[Target Vehicle is leaving Render Distance.]
[Player/Asset is out of bounds for the Scene.]
[Asset Culling Imminent.]
[Proceed with [Blink]?]
[Y / N]
Kaizen stared at the floating letters in confusion.
"What?"
He did not have time to read the fine print. He did not have time to ask what Asset Culling meant, though it sounded suspiciously like Delete Character. The bus was disappearing around the bend. If he lost line of sight, he lost his only ride.
"What kind of question is that?!"
Kaizen mentally slammed his fist on the YES button.
"YES! GET ME ON THAT BUS RIGHT NOW!"
[Command Accepted.]
[Lag Spike Initiated.]
ZZZZZT.
The world did not fade to black like in movies. It smeared.
Kaizen felt like he was being violently sucked through a straw. The colors of the street stretched into infinite lines. His stomach did a three-hundred-sixty-degree backflip inside his torso.
It was not magic. It was a glitch. It felt like aggressive server lag, like when you run into a wall in a video game and the server rubber-bands you forward five seconds later.
POP.
The sound was like someone uncorking a champagne bottle, except instead of wine, it was Kaizen's sanity.
He slammed into something soft and squishy. His vision spun like a discount loading screen. Cheap leather hit his nose.
He blinked several times.
He was... sitting?
In the back seat of the bus?
"Ugh..." Kaizen groaned, clutching his head with both hands. "Motion sickness... debuff... pretty sure I left my stomach back on the pavement..."
To his left, the dad was dead asleep, snoring loudly against the window like a tranquilized bear.
To his right sat the source of all his problems.
The snotty kid was kneeling on the seat, staring proudly out the back window at the empty road where Kaizen used to be. The kid was still giggling, absolutely delighted with his middle-finger masterpiece.
Kaizen leaned forward until his face hovered right beside the child's ear.
"Peek-a-boo," he whispered.
The kid froze completely.
The giggling died instantly.
Slowly, the kid turned his head.
His eyes landed on Kaizen.
The guy who was one hundred meters behind the bus three seconds ago.
The guy now sitting comfortably beside him like a corrupted game asset, pale and smiling like a bugged-out NPC boss.
The kid's eyes ballooned to twice their normal size. His pupils detonated outward.
He opened his mouth.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The scream was loud enough to make the windows seriously consider shattering.
The dad woke up with a violent snort. "What?! What is it?! Demons?! Bandits?!"
The bus driver slammed on the brakes with a screech.
Kaizen sat back calmly, crossed his arms, and looked out the window casually, humming a little tune.
"Must be the wind," Kaizen said while looking at the dad with an innocent smile.
The dad looked confused, then looked at his son, who was now trembling violently and pointing a shaking finger at Kaizen. "D-d-dad! He... he teleported! He was outside! He is a monster!"
"Hush now, Timmy," the dad yawned, patting the kid's head. "Stop making up stories. Be polite to the nice student from the academy."
"But he—!"
"Hush."
The bus started moving again.
For the next hour, the ride was incredibly peaceful.
Well, for Kaizen it was peaceful. For the kid, it was a psychological horror film.
The kid did not dare look Kaizen in the eye. He sat rigid as a statue, clutching his dad's sleeve. But every few minutes, curiosity would get the better of him, and he would slide his eyes to the side.
Every single time he looked, Kaizen was ready and waiting.
Kaizen would cross his eyes. Kaizen would peel his lips back like a goblin. Kaizen would mouth the words: I am under your bed.
The kid would whimper, tremble, and stare straight ahead, tears pooling in his eyes.
'Justice,' Kaizen thought while sipping his imaginary victory tea. 'Sweet, petty justice.'
Finally, the automated voice chimed cheerfully.
"Arriving at Zenith Prime City Center. Please watch your step."
The bus hissed to a halt.
Kaizen stood up smoothly. He grabbed his backpack. He looked fresh, rested, and ready for crime.
He turned to the father.
"Have a wonderful day, sir," Kaizen said with a polite bow. "You have a... lovely child."
"Thank you, young man," the dad smiled wearily. "Study hard at the academy!"
"I will."
Then, Kaizen looked directly at the kid.
The kid was pressed against the window, trying desperately to merge with the glass to get away from him.
Kaizen smiled.
He slowly raised his thumb.
He drew it across his throat in a slow, deliberate slicing motion.
Zip.
The kid's soul left his body.
Kaizen turned and hopped off the bus, whistling a cheerful tune.
Behind him, he could hear the kid starting to cry.
It was eight o'clock in the morning.
The City Center was already alive and bustling. The smell of street food, sweat, and pollution filled the air in equal measure.
"Alright," Kaizen said while adjusting his bag. "Time to go shopping for illegal equipment."